F. Mortimer Lamb (American, 1881-1936)

Frederick Mortimer Lamb was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts May 5, 1861, the son of August and Ardelia (Monk) Lamb. At the age of 17 he entered Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston and studied under Arthur Smith of England. This school was the first of its type in America. In 1873, the Massachusetts Normal Art School opened its doors in response to the Massachusetts Drawing Act, a progressive 1870 mandate requiring all cities in the Commonwealth of over 10,000 residents to include drawing in their public-school curricula. He later was associated with the New England Conservatory of Museum and the Boston Art Museum School of Art. He studied in Paris at the Julien Academy.

Lamb was affiliated with the Boston Art Club, American Federation of Arts, Society of American Water Color Painters, New York Water Color Club, Washington Society of Water Color Painters, New Haven Paint and Clay Club, and the Boston Society of Water Color Painters. His murals in the corridor of City Hall in Brockton have won admiration from the citizens of the city and its visitors.

Mr. Lamb was awarded a silver medal at the Panama Pacific international exhibition in San Francisco for his picture, “Our New England”. This picture was proclaimed by leading art critics as typifying the real New England. “The End of the Trail,” a life-size painting of hounds picking up a fox, was the only animal picture accepted by the Boston jury to be shown at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. It was later shown in San Francisco and numerous exhibitions throughout the country. While being shown in Philadelphia it was stolen from the gallery and recovered three years later.

“Trailing Quail” in watercolors has been admired in every exhibition in which it has been shown. It has the distinction of having been accepted by the jurors at the New York watercolor exhibition.

Lamb contended that a man who specialized in one subject of art could not rightfully pose as an artist as the scope was too broad to permit narrowing down to any particular medium. Mr. Lamb showed remarkable versatility in his work, whether his medium was oil, watercolor, or pastel, he interpreted his subject equally well. Lamb died in 1936 in Stoughton, Massachusetts. His work hangs in churches, libraries, and city halls throughout Massachusetts.